Home ›› 02 Dec 2021 ›› Front
A significant progress in the power sector speaks of Bangladesh’s success story to a large extent as the country’s electricity generation capacity jumped to nearly 25,000 megawatt from 542 megawatt at the time of independence.
Initially, the capacity to generate cent percent electricity was rested with the public sector while at present the private sector holds 51 per cent.
Since 1972, 24,535 megawatt of electricity has been added to the national grid. As a result, the installed capacity of electricity, including captive, has reached 24,982 megawatt.
Besides, 99.75 per cent of the population is now under electricity coverage, but there are still some challenges in ensuring uninterrupted power supply.
Power Division Secretary Md Habibur Rahman told The Business Post it is not possible yet to supply uninterrupted power due to some problems in transmission lines, but they are hopeful to do so by 2023.
“We are now developing transmission and distribution systems,” he said.
“If this can be done properly, it will be possible to supply uninterrupted power without outages. But our development will continue even after that because there is no end to progress.”
Sources in the Power Division said 38 power plants with a 14,115-megawatt capacity are under construction while the signing of contracts for 20 plants with 2,961-megawatt capacity is underway to ensure smooth power supply.
Besides, tenders are under process for six power plants with a 650-megawatt capacity. There are about 40 power generation companies in the country.
The Centre for Policy Dialogue in a report in June this year said capacity charge is being paid by keeping 60 per cent of the power generation capacity idle.
The think tank came up with the figure based on just a single-day calculation in May.
The government has approved oil- and gas-based rental and quick rental power plants, but if the government does not buy electricity from them according to the agreements, it has to pay a certain charge called capacity charge.
At present, Bangladesh pays about Tk 9,000 crore in capacity charge every year.
The US-based Institute for Energy Economics Financial Analysis said in a 2020 report that 43 per cent of the power plants in Bangladesh function, and the remaining 57 per cent remain idle though their rents have to be paid.
Power transmission and distribution
As a result of the extensive construction of power transmission and distribution lines in the last decade, the length of transmission lines now stands at 12,692 circuit kilometres, and distribution lines 6.03 lakh kilometres.
The overall system loss came down by about 5 per cent in a decade from 16.85 per cent in FY09 to 11.23 per cent in FY20.
By 2030, the government plans to increase the length of transmission lines to 28,000 circuit kilometres and distribution lines to 6.6 lakh kilometres with a target to bring all upazilas under 100 per cent electricity coverage.
Power generation from independence to date
After independence, in the financial year 1971-72, there was only 542 megawatt electricity in the grid.
In the war-torn country, 55 megawatt was added in a year, with the capacity reaching 602MW. This set the foundation of economic development.
After that, electricity generation capacity increased to 813 megawatt in 1980-81 and grew further to 1,121 megawatt in 1983-84. In the fiscal year 1987-88, it exceeded 2,000 megawatt, reaching 2,146 megawatt.
In 1990-91, the power generation capacity shot up to 2,365 megawatt. In 1997-98, it was 3,091 megawatt, in 2000-01, 4,005 megawatt, while 5,245 megawatt in 2005-06, 7,264 megawatt in 2010-11, 10,416 megawatt in 2013-14, 15,953 megawatt in 2017-18, and 22,031 megawatt in 2020-21.
Asked about progress in the power sector in 50 years of independence, Power Cell Director General Mohammad Hossain told The Business Post Bangabandhu had built three power plants in the shortest period in 1972.
Only the Kaptai Hydropower Plant was a big one before that, he said, adding that 22,000 megawatt is generated for the grid at present while the estimated demand is 14,500 megawatt.
“People complain about load shedding despite high electricity generation. That is why new transmission and distribution lines, substations, and underground distributions are being built to supply uninterrupted electricity,” he pointed out.
Former director general of Power Cell BD Rahmatullah said power generation attracts many as it is profitable and those having political influence win the contracts, but there is no interest in transmission and distribution.
He described rental power plants as licences to engage in corruption in the public sector, saying these were never necessary for Bangladesh.
“For electricity, 40 per cent is spent on production, 40 per cent on transmission, and 20 per cent on distribution. Yet, nobody is interested in handling transmission and distribution,” Rahmatullah explained.
“It is said that our generation capacity is 25,000 megawatt, but the reality is different. If a plant says it generates 100 megawatt, the real output may be 20 megawatt.”
Power import
Under the regional and sub-regional cooperation programmes, 1,160-megawatt electricity is being imported from India. The agreement to import 500 megawatt from Nepal is at the final stage.
Besides, the signing of a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding among Bangladesh, Bhutan, and India on importing electricity from Bhutan is at the final stage as well.
Power sector before independence
In 1948, the power department was established by the government for power supply management, planning, and development.
The water and power development authority was set up in 1959. The power department merged with this a year later.
At the time, relatively large power plants were set up in Siddhirganj, Chattogram and Khulna.
For instance, a 10-megawatt steam turbine power plant was installed in Siddhirganj while a 40-megawatt plant was in Kaptai by constructing the Kaptai dam, which was considered a large plant at the time.
In 1962, the Kaptai dam was constructed and the Dhaka-Chattogram 132KV transmission line was opened, which was considered a milestone in the development of electricity in the country.
The history of power in Bangladesh
The journey to get electricity in this region began on December 7, 1901 when a generator at the historic Ahsan Manzil produced power.
The first power distribution system under the private management was introduced in 1930.
Later, the Dhanmondi Power House was set up for commercial distribution.
During the independence of India in 1947, this region had a private power generation and distribution system.
Initiatives were later taken to supply limited electricity only to urban areas of 17 provincial districts.
At the time, electricity used to be supplied to most districts only for a limited time at night. It had been supplied in Dhaka with two generators having 1,500 kilowatt generation capacity.
